This show is so sweetly satisfying, and it’s going to be the death of me. I’m back for another installment, sleep be damned, because how can you walk away from a guardian angel with a face like that? Our Boy Wonder finally finds the girl he’s been searching for all this time, but it remains to be seen whether or not that girl still exists in our heroine.

Ratings jumped to first place with the second episode, coming in at 12.7%. It’s a pretty impressive bump up from the premiere, especially since it beat out the finale of When A Man Loves (12.1%); Mandate of Heaven came in at 9.3%.

EPISODE 2: “Bad Girl Good Girl”

After a brief reminder of the last episode (including the important fact that our hero can hear other people’s thoughts), we open on Su-ha’s classmate GO SUNG-BIN (Kim Ga-eun), the mean girl who has a little crush on him.

She sneaks into an empty classroom at school to bust out her nail kit, when she hears a thud down below. She runs to the window, and is horrified to see a girl lying on the ground. Is she dead?

A crowd of students gathers around the body and when they look up, there’s Sung-bin, sticking her head out the window with no one else in sight. Oh noes. What’s worse is that it’s the girl the mean kids were ganging up against at the start of Episode 1. This looks bad. They all rush to call the police assuming she pushed her, and Sung-bin panics.

Meanwhile, the interviewers over at the public defender’s office go over the applicants, and they wonder what to do about Hye-sung. They think she has a great story, but one of them pipes up that her nickname in the courthouse is Twenty Seconds—that’s about how long she spends reciting her canned defense on behalf of her clients.

His colleague argues that her story showed she has courage and potential, and as they argue, we get flashbacks to the two very different sides of Hye-sung we’ve seen—the bored jaded adult lawyer, and the brave young girl who came to Su-ha’s rescue.

They ask the boss what he thinks, and he scratches his head, genuinely confused: “I don’t know… She seems like a good lawyer, and she seems like a bad lawyer…”

And then a month later, Hye-sung sees her name and picture in the paper as a new public defender, right alongside Cha Kwan-woo’s. She holds it up proudly, but then reaches her street and gasps in horror at the giant embarrassing banner hanging up above Mom’s chicken shop (called, adorably, Hye-sung Chicken).

Mom insists on displaying the news proudly, though Hye-sung is still unexcited about actually being a public defender, and sighs that she’ll just do a half-assed job and use the position to marry. Mom whaps her on the head, as she should.

Over at the prosecutor’s office, Sung-bin is being grilled as a murder suspect, but you wouldn’t know it from the way she sits back in her chair and chews her gum like she’s in detention.

She talks back to the prosecutor, which sounds pretty much like this: Bleep-bleep-you-bleepity-BLEEP! He shouts in frustration that all of her classmates have signed statements that she’s guilty, but he’s getting nowhere.

The head prosecutor steps in to say that she’ll take over, and plays good cop to the girl, which works like a charm. She puts Sung-bin at ease and then turns on a dime, getting her to confess that she terrorized the victim at school.

The prosecutor is SEO DO-YEON (Lee Da-hee) – ah, girl who got a firework in the eye and got Hye-sung kicked out of school. Guess we’ll be seeing a lot of you.

The news spreads throughout school, and the boys try to get Su-ha to pay attention long enough to read about Sung-bin in the newspaper. They have to shove it in his face to even get him to look, but it’s not Sung-bin’s story that catches his eye.

He does a double take at Hye-sung’s picture right there on the front page, and his jaw drops: “No way…” He breaks into the biggest smile and his buddy even gets a hug before Su-ha runs out of class like the wind.

He’s adorably excited as he races across town, pitter-pattering his feet every time he has to stop and wait at a crosswalk, and stopping to kiss random motorcyclists on the helmet.

He runs straight to the courthouse and looks down again at Hye-sung’s picture in the paper. “You haven’t changed at all.”

And from his prison cell, our killer MIN JOON-GOOK (Jung Woong-in) prepares for his new job at a church, because he gets released tomorrow. What. He killed Su-ha’s father with eyewitnesses there, and he gets released tomorrow?

His cellmate finds a news clipping of Hye-sung’s job announcement tucked into his bible, and Joon-gook just says she’s someone he owes a debt to. He laughs and laughs… and Hye-sung wakes up. Was it a dream? Somehow I don’t think it was all a dream…

She gets ready for her first day at the public defender’s office, which confuses me on the timeline. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure Su-ha went there yesterday. I half expect him to greet her at the door because he spent the night there or something.

Kwan-woo catches up to her on the street and chatters at her nonstop all the way into the office, dork flag still flying high. He tries to figure out what to call her, and realizes he can’t call her Lawyer Jang (because jang-byun would be like calling her a loan-shark loan), so he settles for jjang-byun, “best lawyer,” thinking that makes it cool.

He guesses that she must be the type to put up a cold front but is really just like him underneath. He asks if she isn’t excited to meet the famed Lawyer Shin, whom he declares as his role model in life, and the reason why he became a public defender.

Hye-sung has finally had enough of his pestering and blows up in his face, declaring loudly that she doesn’t give a crap about Lawyer Shin because there’s no way in hell an old fogey who wears dentures in the courtroom is her role model.

Suddenly a set of false teeth literally pops out onto the floor at their feet. An assistant hurriedly picks them up and soaks them in water before a man pops them back into place. Meet Lawyer Shin… their new boss. Muahaha.

Hye-sung sticks her nose up and doesn’t even try to apologize, wondering how juvenile the new boss could possibly be—it’s not like he’ll make her an outcast or anything, right? Cut to: coffee break, where everyone else gets fancy coffee and she gets the mix out of the vending machine.

Kwan-woo, in contrast, is already the star pupil of the office. He greets his first client who’s hard of hearing with sign language, saying he learned it just in case it would be helpful. Who does that? I love this character.

Hye-sung gets her first client too, and it’s Sung-bin.

Su-ha puts his books away in an empty classroom, and starts checking on his hair in the mirror… and then totally practices greeting Hye-sung. He tries everything from “Hi, I’m Park Su-ha. You remember me, right?” to “I missed you, Hye-sung-sshi,” which makes his own skin crawl.

Then he tries: “It’s been a while, noona… noona.” Squee. His classmates watch from the doorway, utterly flabbergasted: “He’s gone insane.”

Sung-bin swears that she didn’t do anything, but Hye-sung takes one look at her and says in the most blasé tone that they say everyone who walks through this door insists they’re innocent.

She paints the scenario as if Sung-bin is guilty, and says that the only thing keeping her from going down for murder is the fact that the victim is hanging on in a coma. She tells her to just admit her guilt now, and she’ll try and keep her out of prison.

As this is going on, Kwan-woo sees his client out, promising her that he’ll fight for her no matter what. Sung-bin looks over at him longingly, wishing she could have that lawyer instead. Don’t blame you, hon.

Everyone in the office cringes at Hye-sung’s bedside manner, and Kwan-woo butts in, “I know it’s overstepping but…” She cuts him off, sentence for sentence, word for word, making her stance clear—they are not a team, and this is her client, so butt out.

Sung-bin finally erupts in tears and screams that she did it, and Hye-sung just sits there waiting for the tears to stop like it’s an annoyance.

She stays late to finish paperwork, and Kwan-woo heads out with the boss, wanting to be reassured that he was in the right—they always have to trust their clients, right? But Lawyer Shin isn’t fully onboard with his rainbows and puppies view of life, and says that he’s been at this job for forty years, but still can’t tell when a client is lying or telling the truth.

Kwan-woo isn’t pleased by that answer, and says he’s going to trust his clients no matter what.

Hye-sung writes up her report on Sung-bin’s case, and something about the way she cried swearing she didn’t do it makes her think of her own angry tears when nobody believed she didn’t shoot a firecracker at Do-yeon. She sighs that she hates this feeling.

Su-ha waits outside her building all evening, and looks up what a public defender is. He reads that it’s a lawyer who helps children and the disabled, and those who can’t afford a lawyer—someone who works not for money, but to help those in need.

I love this—you can just feel how that feeds into his perfect idea of her. In his mind, of course she grew up to be someone who helps other people, exactly the way he remembers her. It’s so wrong, and so perfect.

She finally comes out and he’s about to run up with a big smile, but she keeps going around and around in the revolving door, lost in thought. He reads her mind as she tells herself to let it go and forget it, and he chooses not to approach her now.

Instead he just follows as she walks to the bus, stealing little glances and smiling to himself. On the bus she loses her balance and he holds her steady, but she doesn’t turn back to look at him when she says thanks.

He follows her all the way home, hearing her thoughts as she chooses to take the long way around because the streetlamp is out and it’s too dark to take the shortcut. He watches as she goes all the way up to her rooftop apartment and smiles like a loon.

Mom calls (she’s got Mom saved into her phone as “queen mother,” heh) to ask if there isn’t anyone datable in her office, and she reports that there are none. As she talks, she curiously lines up a pair of men’s shoes that she keeps in the house.

Mom wonders why she sounds so down, and Hye-sung says it’s because the street lights are out, and she hates the dark. She looks out the window, and suddenly they turn on.

She goes out to see why, not believing that the city would send someone out to fix them this late at night, and sees Su-ha looking up at her from the street. She just assumes he’s a city worker and he goes on his way, assured that she’ll feel safe now.

As he waits for the subway, he notices Sung-bin sitting forlornly on the opposite platform and doesn’t think much of it.

But then he hears her thoughts: “I didn’t do anything. Why won’t anyone listen? Attempted murder… I’ll probably go to prison. Should I just die? Nobody, not my friends, not my lawyer, no one in this world believes me. Why should I live? If I die will they believe me? Will they regret not believing in me?”

She gets up and starts inching toward the edge of the train platform. Su-ha screams: “Go Sung-bin!” He tells her not to do anything stupid and runs up the stairs to get to the other side.

The train approaches, and she wonders to herself if anyone will even notice if she’s gone. Su-ha runs and runs, as she inches closer and closer…

As her toes hang off the ledge, a tear rolls down her cheek and she clenches her fist. The train barrels by, and at the last second, Su-ha pulls her back and they fall onto the platform.

He screams at her, “What are you doing you idiot?!” but she just looks up at him and breaks down in sobs.

They sit in a playground afterwards, and she asks, “You heard what I said, right?” She knows about his superpower? But no, she meant did he hear about what happened with her. Clever play on words.

She asks if he thinks she pushed the girl too, and Su-ha says no. He can hear her thinking he’s just saying that because she tried to kill herself, so he assures her that he believes her one hundred percent.

She sighs that it’d be nice if her lawyer believed her too, and when he finds out that it’s Hye-sung, his face falls. He can’t believe she would be that distrusting, and tells himself that Sung-bin must’ve read her wrong.

Side note: I have no idea why a high-schooler who lives alone has an apartment that nice. Maybe he used his superpower to rob a bank? There could be a bad boy phase somewhere in his past. Check his junior high transcripts, ‘s all I’m sayin’.

The next morning, the boss gives Kwan-woo a pep talk before his first trial, and he invites Hye-sung to sit in and watch, blustering that he’ll prove to her what a lawyer who trusts in his clients can achieve. This is probably going to be embarrassing.

He defends his sweet ajumma client with gusto, using sign language and all the prepared phrases that he learned. But the prosecution tears down her lies one after another, until it becomes clear that he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Hye-sung walks away smugly, thanking him for the reminder why she should never trust her clients, and leaves him fuming.

He whines to his boss that his client was really a sweet lady and just in dire straits, and his boss asks if he really believes that being poor makes everyone well-intentioned and inherently good. What will he do if he gets a client who’s guilty but still needs a lawyer? Kwan-woo doesn’t have an answer.

Su-ha waits at the bus stop to go to Sung-bin’s trial with her, and can barely recognize her when she walks up looking totally different—black hair, simple uniform, just like any other student.

Hye-sung gets ready to go up for her trial, and runs into Do-yeon at the elevator. They recognize each other right away and exchange tense pleasantries, only now realizing that one became a prosecutor and the other a lawyer.

Su-ha and Sung-bin arrive, and that’s when the two frenemies (or is it just plain enemies?) realize they’re on opposite sides of the same trial. Hye-sung heads to the bathroom to gather herself, wondering how she missed Do-yeon’s name signed on the prosecution’s documents.

She steels herself and drags Sung-bin outside for a cramming session, and only now notices Su-ha and tells him to stop following them like a piece of gum. He just follows anyway.

He listens as she coaches Sung-bin to just answer yes to every question and plead guilty. She refuses to go with a guilty plea, but Hye-sung warns her that Sung-bin will go to prison and she’ll lose her case, so guilty is what they’re going with.

He’s finally had enough and grabs Hye-sung by the wrist to drag her aside, speaking to her in banmal. She fights back, so he freaking picks her up and slings her over his shoulder, like a teenage caveman.

He puts her down kicking and screaming, and tells her that Sung-bin is innocent, “So you prove her innocence.” She asks if he saw anything that could be proof, but he just tells her that Sung-bin tried to kill herself, “after seeing you.”

She pauses, but then looks him right in the eye and says, “So? Is that proof?” Dude, way to shatter a boy’s pristine image of you. He can barely believe it as he says it: “You’re the worst.”

She scoffs at the kid, listing kidnapping, banmal, and lecturing as his crimes, and yells at him to act his age. He counters that she should start acting like a lawyer, and listen to her client—what makes her different from the prosecutor?

But what she wants is proof. So he stares at her for a long moment, like he might stare a hole right through her skull… and then says exactly what she says in unison, again, and again. Omo, he’s showing her his powers!

“I can read people’s minds. That’s your proof.” She stares and stares, mind totally blown, and doesn’t let him come any closer. He sighs, “Don’t look at me like I’m a monster.”

He says there are people in this world with 200 IQs, and others who can run a hundred meters in nine seconds, and so he’s just special, not a monster. Suddenly he shouts: “I’M NOT AN ALIEN! I was born on Earth!” Hye-sung gapes, “You just read my mind, didn’t you?” Hahahaha.

She tells him to quit it, feeling all violated, and he says he doesn’t like it either, but he can’t shut it out—he sees eyes, he reads thoughts. She immediately blocks her eyes from his view.

He urges her to focus on Sung-bin, and swears that he knows she’s innocent. “The mouth can lie, but the mind can’t.” He offers to be her proof, but she laughs, asking how they’re going to present his superpower to judge and jury, and not get kicked out for being crazy.

It brings him right back to being eight years old in that courtroom, hearing the killer’s defense lawyer use that very line to call him crazy, and to make his word mean nothing. He looks at Hye-sung now with those same hurt eyes, as she tells him that the truth is useless to a lawyer—evidence is what matters.

He screams, “And the truth?!” He asks if the truth isn’t won in court. Hye-sung: “No, kid. You’ve got the order wrong. You don’t win the truth in court. Whatever wins in court is the truth.” She walks away.

Oof. I can just hear that pedestal he’s built for her for ten years breaking into a million pieces. He takes out his journal filled with entries about her… and throws it in the trash. Aw, don’t do it!

He says in voiceover: “I will protect you. I will protect you.” And then he comes right back to fish it out. Again, in voiceover: “I will protect you.”

Hye-sung and Do-yeon run into each other again and reminisce icily about the last time they saw each other ten years ago in the courtroom. Hye-sung isn’t above pointing out, “that time you ran away.”

Do-yeon asks if she’s going to plead innocent, but Hye-sung says she has an airtight case, so only a fool wouldn’t go for a guilty plea. Do-yeon looks at her strangely and muses, “You’re really alike.” (Curious. It’s vague wording, and it can encompass anything from looks to personality to situation.)

Su-ha watches the conversation, and then asks Hye-sung, “What’s… the fireworks incident?” She stops short, suddenly very interested. He says he read it in Do-yeon’s mind, and she asks him to say exactly what he heard.

He tells her what Do-yeon was thinking (this is secondhand, since we weren’t privy to her thoughts)—that Sung-bin is a lot like Hye-sung in the fireworks incident ten years ago.

The judges arrive outside, including Judge Kim, the man who interviewed her for the position. They watch as she goes around and around in the revolving door, sighing louder and louder until she’s finally screaming at the top of her lungs.

The other judges ask if she wasn’t the public defender Judge Kim chose because he thought she’d be a good, kind lawyer… as her screaming turns into swearing. “She looked nice… then.” Ha.

The hearing begins. The prosecution says that Sung-bin terrorized the victim due to jealousy and pushed her out the window, arguing that it was attempted murder. It’s the defense’s turn to plead: guilty or not guilty?

Hye-sung looks down at Sung-bin’s trembling hands. She looks over at Su-ha and thinks at him: “Hey you. Are you sure she’s innocent? Can I trust you?” He nods. Man, I love how they’re using his ability.

They wait. She stands up…

She hesitates for a moment, and then closes her file. “The defendant pleads not guilty.” Yaaay. Su-ha finally smiles again, and she looks over at him, probably beaming over something like, Kid, you’d better be right or you’re dead.

COMMENTS

I like that there’s very little dillydallying with this show. We got a great setup in Episode 1, and now that it’s time for our characters to meet, they meet, like clockwork. This show does nothing new, but it keeps time and delivers the payoffs I want fast and with all the right emotional beats. Granted, it’s not a dense show—the conflicts and motifs are literal and obvious (people want to be heard / Su-ha hears them when no one else does / a public defender’s job is to listen when no one else will)—but they’re also just very universal in their simplicity, and uplifting in their execution. We root for the underdog, the unheard, the ones who have no one to believe in them.

It’s why the two lawyers are such great foils for each other, because you literally just have them each represent the polar opposite ideals. He’s a good person and a terrible lawyer; she’s a terrible person and a good lawyer. (We haven’t seen her in action yet, but she’s whip-smart and knows how to pick her battles, so chances are she’ll be awesome at her job when it comes to winning.) You want Kwan-woo to be right because he’s so earnest, but he’s also wrong about people, even with the best intentions, and I really look forward to how they’ll each become more like the other. Except I never want him to be cool, ever. Please stay geeky.

What I love is that we’re already getting to the good stuff in Episode 2, with Su-ha starting to use his gift to change Hye-sung for the better. The setup and crash to earth between finding her in the newspaper and seeing the real her outside his fantasy was so great. Despite the fact that we see her very clearly as a character—pragmatic, self-preserving, jaded—we also see the version Su-ha wants to see, because it’s hopeful. The classmate’s murder trial wasn’t strictly necessary to get them to meet, but what it does is change their first conversation from Hey noona, remember me? to What the hell happened to you? And already he forces her to change, when he gets her to trust him in the courtroom.

I’m still not going to promise recaps (I know, I have commitment issues) but chances are, you’ll see me here again next week, saying the same thing all over again. Lee Jong-seok > sleep, right?

So far at least, this looks like the best of the 2013 crop of dramas, somewhat to my surprise. The basic theme had so many possibilities of the way-too-common staples of k-dramas, but so far it has avoided most of the worn out clichés. It is straightforward, without the endless “almost meetings”, way too many hidden secrets that everyone knows (ala You’re the Best..). I just hope it keeps up the pace.

I was thinking it might be an awarded compensation from his father’s murder and/or a life insurance payout. If you have the right plan, your beneficiaries can get a pretty large chunk of money and Su Ha is probably the sole beneficiary.

That sounds possible. I was kind of assuming that since he and his father were planning their outings around which coupons they could use, the family was not actually that well off. Or maybe his father was just frugal

When I saw the apartment I thought that maybe the couponing was just their father/son bonding thing rather than a necessity. But insurance payout is also a great theory. There’s got to be a story behind it because regular orphan kids don’t get digs like that in KDramas and he seems remarkably well adjusted so I’d venture to say he hasn’t been dragging himself along on his own wits for the last 10 years.

Guys — it could be insurance payout — especially since the person who hit them was driving a truck — so maybe the company had great insurance. I would guess, on the other hand, that Soo ha gets great discounts on things because he knows the price whenever he has to bargain. Also, I can imagine he would never lose in a poker game, ever. So it’s possible he could make a lot of money gambling.

5.3 girlatseaJune 7th, 2013 at 1:45 PM

That’s what I assumed too. It almost reminded me of Big. Kyung-joon with his huge lonely house. But compensation/life insurance also sounds plausible

I don’t think the father was rich because they were pretty much deciding on what to eat in the previous episode based on what coupons they had. I think either he was awarded some money for the murder, or the people that took him in after the murder were rich (I don’t know if he went into foster care or with a relative).

using coupons doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t well off or frugal. coupons get delivered via mails all the time. rather than throwing them to the trash, spending them as a mean of having a quality time with his son is also plausible.

I am totally loving this show. It hits all the right buttons and the pacing is so nice and quick and keeps my attention. And Lee Jong Seok – OMO – if he were any cuter my heart would burst. He’s like a sack of kittens in a box of puppies on a pile of baby sloths (seriously, they are the cutest things ever).

I’m really enjoying this show. I was hooked by the first episode and that almost never happens to me. The only other time I think I’ve had it happen was with Love Shuffle.

This one is also another kdrama I could see having no love line. In my heart of hearts, I ship Su Ha/Hye Sung but the fact that he’s a high schooler is probably going to nix that unless he graduates halfway through the drama or something.

That said, I am totally satisfied if this one had no romance at all or just hinted at it later in life or something. I’m far more interested in the characters’ platonic relationships.

I agree about not having a romance or just hinting at it. I think it’s because the characters have potential to influence each other since they are all so interesting/extreme without having to go down the romance route, kind of like School 2013. But I doubt they’ll leave it without romance.

YAY! I’m not the only one who doesn’t want a loveline between Su-ha and Hye-sung!

The only loveline I can see happening is between Kwan-woo and Hye-sung. That’d be cute, and they don’t have a huge age gap, but I can’t bear to see Jong-suk heartbroken and crying again… I had a more-than-enough dosage of that in School 2013 and Secret Garden ;n;

Honestly, I’m really uncomfortable with the large age gap. Eight years is a little too much for me…especially when Hye-sung looks so mature compared to Su-ha.

It’d be easier not to ship them if freaking Lee Jong-seok didn’t have to have chemistry with everyone. Noona killer extraordinaire, that one. (Actual lol at the “squee” in the recap.) Do we know how old Hye-sung is? I suddenly find myself interested in that age gap.

But yeah, I agree, I’d be fine with minimal romance here. I think the show has enough going on that it’ll hold up without love lines. A couple of hints or things I could interpret in a shippy way would be good enough for me.

My one complaint is how handsy Su-ha got in this episode. Wristgrabs are bad enough, but him literally picking her up and moving her was unacceptable. That had better be a one-off result of being worried about Sung-bin and having all his illusions shattered because he’s gonna lose points fast if he keeps that up.

The official synopsis has Sooha as 19 and Hyesung at 27, so they are only 8 years apart in the show… So far the press releases and news articles have been indicating that a noona-dongsaeng romance seems pretty inevitable.

I mean, I don’t mind if it ends up platonic, but their chemistry is already quite good, so either ways, it’s fine with me

Sorry I can’t provide pictoral proof or anything, because it’s just one of many pieces of information I gathered before the drama aired, probably the script pages that leaked or something… Oh wait, I do have this page of Hyesung’s resume, so it does show her that she is 27 in international age:http://i.imgur.com/Z1jyLSu.jpg

I wish they made Sooha a college student in a way, I mean if Sooha is 19, there is no reason why he can’t be in college already. But maybe they just really want to get LJS in school uniform, and well, who can blame them?

7.2.4 Windsun33June 8th, 2013 at 1:01 PM

I think the pick-her-up thing was mainly a result of his extreme frustration with her refusing to listen, and that was the only way to get her attention. A bit over the top, yes, but I think it got the point across.

But one thing you touched on that really annoys me in nearly ALL K-dramas is how often the men grab women by the wrist and drag them around. I don’t really think this is a Korean thing – I am no expert but in the few months I spent there in the 90’s I don’t recall ever seeing that happen. So, I suspect it is some kind of K-melodrama thing that is vastly overused.

While the pick-up thing did irk me a bit, I liked that she threatened to sue him in actual lawyer terms, and just is generally unfazed by his behavior. Like, she didn’t weaken just because he grabbed her, she fought back with her knowledge.

Thanks for the recap! I loved the first episode and I can’t wait to watch this one too. I wonder if we’ll be seeing any more flashbacks to the childhood portions, or if Kim So-hyun’s appearance was just limited to the first episode?

Crack drama alert for me. No doubt about that. For once, I agree with the ratings.
Drama knows what it wants to give and it does it without reserve. Plenty of room for the cases and the journey of our characters.
It reminds me a bit of Me too, flower: Woman is unhappy with her job, angry at everyone, depressed… and this kid barrels into her life with his own insecurities & emotional injuries. If we can escape the river of tears and the unnecessary angst (WAML could do it!) then it’s going to be a pleasure, this drama.
LJS is born to play the noona killers (broken record, I know) and given Soo Ha’s special skills, we can expect memorable staring contests. RAWR!
I’m very curious about the superpower: I hope it’s not a brain tumor or I will kill puppies.

He got a head injury in the crash right? That’s when it started, so I’m guessing the head injury knocked a wire into place or something. Although I’m totally fine if the show never explains it. I’m here for the justice! and doing right by the law + cute relationships (platonic and romantic).

Dam, this show is being added to my crack list. And it’s only episode 2.
Why does dramaland insist on giving us a string of disappointing dramas only to hit us with a string of awesome dramas. Makes it super hard to keep up with all of them and find time to discuss.
This is actually my first time watching LJS. I never watched school 2013 or any of his previous shows. I can see what all the hype is about him. He really is a noona killer. So cute… I am shipping them(squick be damned!)

Agreed! I had a lull in my drama watching for a while and then BAM. I’m adding dramas to my list left and right. There isn’t enough time to watch them all >_<. I've still got a bit of hesitancy though, there's plenty of time for these dramas to go downhill.

I agree! We’re supposed to assume that the mind-reading is from the head injury in the crash and leave it at that. I reallllly hope they don’t go too into it, and like you said, start conjuring up brain tumors or something sigh.

You know, I’m probably one of the few people who think that HS was not wrong in thinking of pleading guilty. It’s a big chance to take, when the charge can be changed from misdemeanor to attempted murder.

But I’m sooo going to root for her to win this case.

I hope HS and SA are the OTP. I love their pair; maybe its because we haven’t really seen much of our lawyer KW , but still I want HS and SA together.

The problem I had with HS thinking of having SB plead guilty is that HS actually believed SB was guilty immediately (because of her preconceived notions about the clients she gets) and did not make any effort to find any evidence or do anything to prove her innocence. No attempt to find out the history of the girl who fell or try to see if SB’s side of the story pans out. At least do some digging or attempt to cover all avenues before deciding to plead guilty if there was absolutely no hope, but HS did virtually nothing at all.

It was indeed entirely believable. It’s easier for lawyers to make up their mind about a case after reading the file, without bothering to listen to the client. She is was least trying to get her the best result possible under the circumstances.

Still, she should have listened to her. At least make an EFFORT to see if not-guilty is possible. At least hear her side of the story, to see if they didn’t miss any evidence or other extenuating circumstances, before deciding she’s guilty.

I don’t think a guilty plea would have been justified. First, the girl is apparently a minor (16’ish?), and second there is no real proof at all except some rather iffy statements by other students that hate her (her ex-“friends”..). In fact, it may very well have been a suicide attempt due to the bullying – and that would make the girl somewhat liable, but no more than the herd of other students that did the same.

Also bear in mind that TV dramas are not the best place to get real on the Korean legal system

Something I noticed: in the jail scene, the trucker is talking to the actor playing Scale in Heartless City, which is so appropriate since Scale went to jail in episode 2 of HC (last week in K-drama timeline).

I have a question for those more legally knowledgeable, isn’t all their evidence circumstantial? None of the kids actually saw her pushing Ssang Ko, all they can do is place her by the window. If she doesn’t plead guilty, how can they charge her with attempted murder?

This is kdrama law.
Also, I know it’s a bit of a stretch, but with all the evidence (the bunch of so-called witnesses, and her not even denying she was in that music room not to mention motive), you could probably sortof kindof almost believe it’s beyond reasonable doubt.
It’s like finding someone with a murder weapon next to a dead body.

Unless someone proved it was possible she jumped out of a different window, or that is was impossible for someone to have pushed her. (autopsies or whatever)

I think that in most country’s, you are “consider guilty”, until proven innocent, in the US your consider innocent until proven guilty, and yes if the case was in the US, all they have is circumstantial evidence against her, so the prosecutor must prove “beyond the shadow of doubt”, that she committed the crime, in order to be found guilty!!

Actually, in most countries it is ‘innocent until proven guilty’. This does not only go for the US. In most countries, it is considered a basic human right. I looked it up, and in Korea there is a presumption of innocence as well.

In my country there is presumption of innocence as well. But it doesn’t actually work.

there is one man, who accused doing money laundry. but there’s no evidence at all. I believe he never did something like that, because i know him. But with media play, public already believe him guilty. And the judge goes with the public opinion.
I think this is happen in other countries as well, even if someone is innocent, if people already sees him as criminal, being called or arrested by police, he is guilty.

Hum in my country, no matter how much everyone thinks someone killed the person, if have no concrete evidence, the person can’t go to jail.

And there is even cases that if have two people, but they aren’t sure who killed and who didn’t, both people should be found innocent and nobody go to jail (even if one of them is the guilty person!!!)

I also have a question for episode 1. The dad was hit by a steel pipe, so wouldn’t that leave noticeable marks on his body? If they were looking for witnesses and still carrying on the investigation, how could he be cremated? Don’t they need to autopsy the body to establish if the accident was the sole cause of death?

In my country the law states that unless it’s in his will or someone of the family asks for it, a dead body will be buried and not cremated.
Cremating a body is also only possible after establishing that there is no chance/suspicion that the person died because of unnatural circumstances. If there is a possibility that it was an unnatural death, the prosecutor can ask for an autopsy before the cremation.

Maybe they just skipped the autopsy bit? Or maybe the prosecutor/police just didn’t care? I guess the later is more likely.

He was burned *before* Su Ha wrote in the notebook that his father was killed. Even so, with blunt force trauma, the reality is that many autopsies aren’t done because there isn’t enough staff to do one properly (even in the US). It’s just a bit confusing to me who authorized the cremation though… ’cause Su Ha’s extended family wasn’t described.

Another good episode. I like the grumpy lead female characterization. I love the Mom. I even like the little silly orange haired girl and the dumb boys at school. The Noona Killer is on point. I like the plot and I am fine with the super power as it is, no explanation or as Mystisith noted, I also hope we are not going for brain tumor or something. Just let it be, gees.

Lee Jong Suk-made me think he was channeling his inner Hyun Bin in the mirror scene. I’m not saying he is copying HB or like HB, I am just saying he just stepped beyond his broody teen portrayals and is not afraid to be goofy and human. It was a great thing.

I cringed in the cave man scene. I still cringe, but I allow it as it was more about making her listen for the sake of justice than about he man she woman stuff. That said, it still was not necessary, and the last dood that tried that with me got a fist to the nads. Just saying. The sweetness of the character otherwise outweighs that scene in the full scope of the episode.

Can we just redeem the mean girl now and get over it and break out of that trope?

We don’t need a birth secret in this show.

I’m not feeling the nerdy lawyer. I just want to take him to a salon and have his hair washed, it looks like it is full of argan oil and not in a good way. I mentioned this on open thread too-are they shooting Yoon Sang-hyun with a diffusion filter? Because his skin is way smooth, he does not show the character and life in his face as in SG and Take Care of the Young Lady. The guy is almost 40. He’s allowed to have laugh lines, come on. I like laugh lines.

Even though I am nit picking on stuff (I’m a Virgo, it is going to happen) I am liking the set up for this show so far and hope it stays on course to happy making viewing.

I am so sick and tired of evil hateful screaming moping controlling mean over-the-top mothers, grandmothers, and MIL’s that it is a very welcome change to actually see a normal mother with real ethics and no axe to grind.

Yes, well, I am sure mean girls mom will resurface.
But lawyer girls mom seems she wants her daughter to do well, even as she is trying to push her buttons, and even tho she’s smacking her up side the head-and that could get old
i hope they use it sparingly- she is proud of her daughter.

What can I say ? I didn’t want to start this drama. I thought the plot… you know… didn’t thought I would like it. But then, you said it was great, and I had time, and I wanted to try it, and I watched the first three minutes, and I was hooked, and… know I can’t wait for next week, ant it’s gonna be the death of me too, because how can I watch Shark, I can hear your voice, Heartless City, Lee Soon Shin, Gu family, (Nail Shop is gonna be crossed. It sucks anyway), Moonstar and not DIE from all of it ? But in all of this show… when I thought Shark would be the one stopping from sleeping… well seems now it’s gonna be this one. Oh my god, how can it be SO … addictive SO quickly ?
As you said : nothing new, but it’s delivered so right, so fast, so well… it just work perfectly. And so perfectly on me…

Gosh. And there I was complaining about not finding a drama as addictive as School 2013… right at me !

Dear GF…thaaaaankkk youuu sooo much!!! I love how the story rolling, so familiar yet so adorable!
But..but..please go sleep! I notice You post the recaps at unusual time…so, please, please, help your body #DoctorMode

^WHATTT. But with all the hype that’s going on especially since I found this drama through dramabeans with postings of the cuts and posters beforehand I really thought you guys were going to legitimately post recaps for this drama all the way through. xD Lol no worries though.

I’m loving this show! It starts off quick like you said and it doesn’t drag which is an IMMENSE plus for me. I’m really invested in this drama especially seeing Yoon Sang Hyun (since Secret Garden!) again and Lee Jong Suk. I’m totally invested in the story line and I do like where it’s going so far.

I really do hope you that DB does recaps for this as this will be a side by side drama I will be watching with Dating Agency Cyrano which I love equally as well but on different spectrum. After When A Man Loves has failed me hopefully I can continue with these two.

Hello! This is my first comment in this site. I appreciate the first two recaps despite difficulty in your schedule. Thanks so much!
I did comment too because I need to persuade Ms. Girlfriday to continue recapping this series. I feel from the very first episode that I Hear Your Voice will be a great show. Even in just reading the recaps, it’s easy to see that it will. *Tagged to must watch*
Looking forward for episodes 3 and 4.

This is what happens when you don the school uniform too often. I can’t see Su-ha, I only see Go Nam-soon but with mind reading ability. I enjoy this drama much better reading the recaps. So if you continue to do it, I’ll continue to read it. I’m not interested in watching it

I keep laughing when everybody recognizes Hye-sung. I know it is just the rules of reality butting in, but the real life actress resemblance isn’t that strong. Oh well, it is still much better than say, City Hunter, where the character leaves for some odd years, the actor doesn’t look any different, yet no one recognizes them.

and likewise, in episode 1 when hye-sung asked her mom who was prettier, her or do-yeon. mom said do-yeon was a classic beauty, while hye-sung might be passable if she got surgery to make her eyes larger… when kim so-hyun has enviably large eyes to begin with, AND is gorgeous.

After a dearth, having this and MONSTAR to look forward to is a delight.

Side note: I have no idea why a high-schooler who lives alone has an apartment that nice. Maybe he used his superpower to rob a bank? There could be a bad boy phase somewhere in his past. Check his junior high transcripts, ‘s all I’m sayin’.

I was curious about the same thing. Family money? Reward?

We still don’t know why Su-ha’s dad was killed. I’m assuming his father’s murder was not personal, but more that Joon Gook is a killer for hire. Of course now that he was sent to prison, the revenge is very personal.

Oh forgot to say, in this episode was the one scene where I’ll probably like Do Yeon.. Ok, so the mean girl was a bully and I loved how prosecuter showed her that, Because the girl could’ve committed suicide! Joking vs terror line was great..

I’m here for Nam Soon. He is freaking adorable here too. I expect Heung Soo to run into the classroom any minute.
Loved Oska in SeGa. I hope he loses those white socks, those glasses and his too dorky self along with his view of innocent clients soon.
Looking like it’s gonna be one perfect show.

You are so awesome girlfriday! Thanks a million for the recap and the touch of humour. A fantastic second episode following a great introduction! What can i say? Cuteness overload Su-Ha – he is just over the moon when he finally found her and could not contain his giddiness when he practiced on how to greet her after so long. Loved the scene when he practiced in front of the mirror in the classroom – looking totally loony!
There is surely a back story on why his dad was killed. A conspiracy? We don’t know what his dad did for a living. Now that the truck driver is out (after having served 10 years in prison for murder – this is something that i cannot get over! 10 years imprisonment for meditated murder, although he was a hired killer, is surely too little for taking a human life! Should have been life imprisonment) am sure that the back story of 10 years ago will surface and Su-Ha will find out who and why his father was murdered.
He is going to change her and she will change him too. Perhaps the noona crush is just that. His idolized image of her is quickly being redrawn! At least, he stuck around given his initial disappointment that she is no longer what he imagined her to be.
Love this drama…

Thank you so much for the recap! I started watching after reading part of your first recap and I’m happy I made that decision! It offers some heavy material without alot of the weight and mourning and the pace is awesome!

I’m just really concerned about the romantic pairings because I dont really see any chemistry between Kwan woo and Hye-sung….and Su Ha is tooooo adorable! I think I would like some kind of love interest to develop for him eventually.

Gee, Hye-sung has become a really terrible person. I’m glad Su-ha’s perfect image of her is shattered this soon. I would hate it if the drama goes longer with Su-ha idolizing her while we know how she truly is.

I hope you have the superpower to recap this drama, gf. Lee Jong-suk is killing me, too. (gosh those lips !)

Plus I love the little character details, such as the journal is the same cover as the book she had, the spinning in the revolving door, the bit about the nails and so on.

Plus the gender reversals was done well–it’s the men that are the hopeful ones, yet they don’t seem dense and have a life outside of the female character.

So far a nice and tight show with a good bit of pacing, I hope the curse of live shoots doesn’t kill it, but with all the flashbacks so far, I think they can keep ahead of schedule. XD. Anthony, Anthony… if not, they can hear people’s voices through phones…

“such as the journal is the same cover as the book she had”
It’s the same book. Young Hye-sung’s stuff fell out of her bag when she was running away. She didn’t pick up the notebook so young Su-ha kept it. (unless it’s a different journal you’re talking about).
But I agree about everything else.

Yeah, this show has a way with getting the audience’s attention right off the bat. Fast paced, funny, endearing as heck, and simple. This may just be one of those shows that garners a large audience because of its broad appeal.
I love how this show pretty much just dove right into all the goodies, which is why even after ep 2 i found myself wanting to know what happens next. Nice cliffhanger, btw.
There is no time wasted time in this show ie. su-ha showing off his mind-reading powers to hye-sung(yay for no potential dragged out misunderstandings in k-drama), or the bogging down of court proceedings. We skip straight into the action, the trial.
Plus side, I find all the characters cute. It may take a while for me to warm up to Lee Bo Young. I like LBY’s character so far and I’m interested in her journey from jaded lawyer to being one of the best public defenders in korea (and one that su-ha can be proud of!), but i can’t shake off this feeling that there’s another actress out there that couldve really done that character more justice. Im not saying her acting’s bad, however, there’s something in her portrayal of hye-sung that leaves me somewhat cold. Maybe i’m just being a little too picky. It’s too early in the game so maybe i just need to warm up to her.
Why must they release all the good dramas at once?! Curse you k-dramaland and your unpredictability!